


Sally's Advice.

by Phelpsgirlxxx



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Battle of the Labyrinth, Book 4, Crying Nico, Hurt Nico, Loving Sally, Mentions of homelessness, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27789496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phelpsgirlxxx/pseuds/Phelpsgirlxxx
Summary: "Come inside for cake and ice cream... it sounds like we have a lot to talk about."-Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth.What should have happened.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson, pre nico/will
Comments: 3
Kudos: 119





	Sally's Advice.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't stop writing about Nico di Angelo, and how I just wanted him to be loved and appreciated the entire way through the series.
> 
> I wrote this very quickly while being sleep deprived, so this might not be very good.

“Come inside for cake and ice cream… it sounds like we have a lot to talk about.”

Nico looked as if he wasn’t entirely sure that was a good idea, but followed the son of Poseidon into his room and out into the living room of the apartment.

“Percy? Who’s this?” His Mom asked as he entered the living room with Nico trailing slightly behind.

“This is Nico di Angelo…a friend of mine.” Percy answered after a moment of hesitation. 

Paul still hadn’t had the chance to be informed about the truth of Percy’s parentage, but he would be, and soon if he was planning on proposing as he had informed Percy, and he wasn’t entirely sure introducing Nico as his cousin, which he kind of was, wouldn’t raise questions.

“Ah Nico, nice to meet you.” Sally said, making her way to the boy.

Percy let out a slight breath of relief. He had informed his Mom about Nico and everything that had happened six months previously with Bianca and the young child of Hades. She had been able to tell something was off with Percy, and he couldn’t lie to her.

“Nice to meet you too Ma’am.” He said quietly, surprising Percy.

The boy was usually much more harsh, but then again he hadn’t actually seen the boy interact with human living adults, and he wasn’t likely to be rude to someone when he had been invited into their home. 

“Now, I’m sure I have some leftovers from dinner, take a seat, Percy and Tyson will keep you company. Paul, why don’t you join me in the kitchen?”

“Sure.” He said with an easy smile, but Percy hadn’t missed the slightly worried look on his face when he had seen Nico, not a scared but worried look, but worry for the sake of the boy.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO.

“That boy looks like he’s been through the ringer.” Paul said as soon as the door to the kitchen closed behind them.

Sally couldn’t help but agree. The boy looked exhausted, and was worryingly thin. He looked like he could use a warm bath, a lot of food and a weeks worth of sleep to get him even close to looking as he should.

“His sister died a few months back.” Sally told him quietly.

“Oh… poor kid. His parents?”

Paul knew something wasn’t right about the kid, the same, slightly mysterious air that hung around Percy also hung around the new boy, Nico di Angelo.

“Not around.” Sally said with a small shake of her head.

Paul didn’t need her to say anything else, he filled in the gaps himself, assuming the boy was a runaway from foster homes, he had seen a few kids like that in his time as a teacher. 

“Is he in the system?”

Sally gave a non committal hmm as she heated up the leftovers from dinner, and took them into the living room where a silent Nico sat between Percy and Tyson who seemed to be talking over his head. From what Sally could see of the small boy, he looked as if he was beginning to nod off.

“Nico dear, eat up, and then I’ll get you some dessert, okay sweetheart?”

He looked up at her, and as her eyes met his, she felt her heartbreak. His eyes showed his true exhaustion and sadness, his eyes seeming much older than his age. He couldn’t be more than eleven if she was being generous with how small he was. He didn’t deserve the pain he was going through… no one did. At least with Percy, he could come home to her, he had his friends around him, even if not physically. This boy, if Sally remembered correctly, had no one, he wasn’t even from this century.

“Thank you Ma’am.”

Sally resisted giving him a hug, but she wanted to, more than anything she wanted to.

“No problem dear, now eat up.”

Sally took a seat opposite him, and Paul next to her, opposite Percy, and she kept the conversation light, leaving no pressure on the boy between her son and his brother. She wanted him to be safe, if only for a little while.

He ate slowly, as if his body weren’t used to eating as much as he should, and judging by the look of him, she was sure it was true.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Paul was also staring sadly at the boy, but trying not to appear obvious about it. As a teacher, he knew how to look for abused children, and children that were suffering, and Nico gave off the air of being an abused child, even if it wasn’t quite in the way 

Once he was done, she took the plate from him, despite his claims that he could wash up himself.

“Nonsense dear, you’re a guest, I’ll get it. I’ll bring you some dessert too.”

“You don’t need to, Ma'am.”

“It’s not a problem, there’s plenty left.” She said with a soft smile.

Percy was looking at the child next to him as if he had never seen him before, but Sally didn’t find it surprising. If the small child of Hades was alone more often than not, and spending time in the labyrinth alone, or surrounded by ghosts, he likely had a hard shell to protect himself.

When she placed the cake and ice cream in front of him, he thanked her gratefully as he slowly ate it.

While he ate, Percy slipped upstairs to make a pull out on the floor for Tyson for the night. Paul would be spending the night with Sally.

After he finished eating, Percy dragged the small boy off for a conversation, and she saw his hardened shell rise up once more. 

Thirty minutes later, the two boys came back, and Percy had a steely resolve around him, as did the younger boy.

“Thank you for your hospitality Ma’am, I should really be going.”

Paul looked as if he was going to protest, and Sally wanted to as well, but she knew her protests would do no good, especially from what she had heard about the boy. He likely only entered the house as Percy had invited him, and anything more wouldn’t be acceptable to him. She wished he would spend the night at least however.

“Do you need a lift, kid, it’s late, I can drop you wherever you need to be?” Paul asked.

“It’s okay sir, but thanks for the offer.”

Paul looked even more worried at that. He didn’t want a small child to be walking around the streets of New York at nearly nine o’clock at night by himself. 

Sally knew how awkward it would have been if Paul had given the kid a lift however. Where would he even get a lift to? Plus, from what she’d heard about the boy, he’d likely be confused by the lack of basic knowledge he had, she couldn’t imagine Nico had anything to say about the latest episodes of Doctor Who for example. He wouldn’t even know what Doctor Who is.

“Nico, can I give you a hug before you go?” Sally asked.

She wanted to pour everything she couldn’t say into the hug. If he ever wanted a hot meal away from judgemental eyes, he could go to her. If he needed a hot bath or a shower, she would always make her home open to him.

Nico seemed to dither for a second, before he nodded.

He likely hadn’t had even a hug since his sister died six months before.

She opened her arms, and he fell into them, and for a second she could feel him shaking before a heart wrenching sob escaped the boy, and before he could seemingly stop himself, he was sobbing into her embrace.

She quickly shot a look at the other boys in the room, and they all quickly left.

Sally moved the two to the sofa, whispering reassuring words to the quaking boy who she had easily pulled onto her lap as he continued to cry.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO.

Around an hour and a half later, she joined Paul upstairs who had settled down into their room.

“Percy and Tyson are in bed, I think Percy’s writing an email to Annabeth and Tyson was asleep last I saw.”

“Good good.” She said, pressing a soft kiss to Paul’s cheek.

“And Nico?”

“I tried to persuade him to take the couch for the night, but he wouldn’t, he seemed embarrassed.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he planned on crying on his older friend’s Mom. Percy is probably super cool to him, so he’s probably embarrassed. I feel bad that he’s walking home all alone in the dark though.” Paul said with a sigh.

Sally’s heart clenched again, thinking of the fact that she had no idea where the boy was actually planning on going. Percy had told her he didn’t feel wanted or needed at camp, nor was there really a bed for him there. She was slightly worried that maybe Percy hadn’t tried to reassure the boy either, especially as her son wasn’t entirely the smartest when it came to feelings. 

“I don’t think he lives too far away, so hopefully he’ll be fine.”

“Good.”

“I need to shower and change, back in fifteen minutes?”

“I’ll be waiting.” He said with a smile.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO. 

“Mom?” Percy asked the following morning after Tyson and Paul had left.

“What’s up Percy?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure honey. Let’s sit on the couch.”

The two sat, and Percy played with his fingers slightly as he debated how to begin the conversation.

“What did you and Nico talk about?”

“We had a long conversation, but I won’t reveal exactly what we talked about Percy, I won’t betray his trust like that.”

Percy nodded as if this was what he expected.

“Mom, I’m not entirely sure if we can trust Nico, I mean-”

“Percy, please listen to me, okay?”

He nodded.

“Nico in his life has felt a lot of pain, and he has technically been alive for like eighty years, but he is only eleven or twelve, he couldn’t remember exactly how old he was when I asked him.”

“I think he’s eleven, but I can’t remember.”

Sally nodded.

“Nico is eleven years old, he is in a time period he doesn’t know, he has no family, he lost his sister only six months ago, he feels ostracised and alone, and he was under the manipulations of a very old spirit, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t know, he did feel guilty for that though, very guilty. He’s trying Percy, he really is. He wants not to make the wrong decisions, but at his age, you made mistakes too. I made mistakes at that age, we all do.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Nico isn’t a bad kid, sure he’s a child of Hades, but he is just a kid. No one is born evil Percy, but people get lost, get misguided. When you meet Nico again, make sure you show him compassion, make sure he knows he has somewhere he belongs if he needs it. It might take him a while to see that, but hopefully he will. He may continue to make mistakes too, but try to put yourself into his shoes, and think of it if that were you. How would it have been for you?”

Percy stayed silent for a long while, considering what his Mom had told him.

“You’re right. Thanks Mom.”

“No problem. Now, school starts in a couple of weeks, doesn’t it? Are you ready?”

“Yeah Mom, I’m ready.”

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO.

Years later, when Percy told her in confidence that Nico had previously had a crush on him and had told him months previously, but was now dating a camper called Will Solace, a son of Apollo, and seemed to be settling in at camp, making friends and seemed much happier, Sally smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Also I worked out you can respond to comments, who knew? I am really bad with technology, so if you ask questions or make a good point in the comments, I will respond.


End file.
